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Kurukshetra, Ambala record worst air quality in country
A thick blanket of smog choked several Haryana cities on Wednesday despite the state reporting lesser number of farm fires
: The air quality of Kurukshetra in Haryana on Wednesday was recorded as the worst in the country with the air quality index (AQI) of 449 followed by Ambala with an AQI of 447, that plunged the cities to ‘severe’ category.
As per the air quality bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality of most of the northern cities of Haryana deteriorated for the first time with the air quality of Kurukshetra and Ambala, neighbouring Punjab, falling severely.
According to the CPCB data, AQI levels of Ambala reached ‘severe’ category at 447 (Average of the past 24 hours) after rising sharply from 283, ‘poor’ category.
The weather remained foggy throughout the day in Ambala with low visibility on NH-44 (Delhi-Amritsar highway) and residents complained about itching in eyes, runny nose and congestion.
A thick blanket of smog choked several Haryana cities on Wednesday despite the state reporting lesser number of farm fires, with the agriculture department pointing the finger at the rampant farm fires in neighbouring Punjab for the deteriorating air quality.
The air quality of many cities in the state hovered between ‘severe’ to ‘very poor’ even as the cases of farm fires in Haryana this harvesting season has reported 44% decline.
Officials of the state agriculture department monitoring farm fires in Haryana have attributed the smog to raging farm fires in Punjab. According to them, the worst air quality in Haryana’s bordering districts is being considered as an impact of rampant farm fires in Punjab.
Farm fire cases have been raging in Punjab with a total of 34,868 incidents reported so far in the state. It reported 1,778 cases on Wednesday.
Air quality of several other border districts of Haryana, including Panchkula, Fatehabad, Kaithal, Panipat, Karnal and Yamunanagar, was categorised as “very poor” as the AQI of these cities remained between 301 to 400 level.
The air quality of Ballabgarh (216), Faridabad (248), Hisar (215), Jind (211), Sirsa (236), Sonepat (236), was flashed as “poor”.
Meanwhile, the air quality of several other cities has improved in the past couple of days as Rohtak is the only city of the state which has “good” air quality, while the air quality of Charkhi Dadri has recovered to ‘satisfactory’ level from “very poor” two days earlier. Also, the air quality of Bhiwani (150), Bahadurgarh (180), Dharuhera (195), Manesar (162) and Narnaul (111) was flashed as ‘moderate’ with the AQI between 101 and 200.
As per the World Health Organization, long exposure to high levels of air pollution can cause a variety of adverse health issues as it increases the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease and lung cancer.
As per the CPCB, the “severe” air quality even affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases and “very poor” air quality causes respiratory illness on prolonged exposure and the ‘poor’ air quality causes breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure.
69 new cases of farm fires in Haryana
Haryana on Wednesday reported 69 fresh active fire locations. As per the data of the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC), Fatehabad witnessed 19 stubble burning incidents, followed by 17 in Jind, 7 in Sirsa, 6 in Kaithal, 5 in Hisar, 4 in Sonepat, 3 each in Panipat and Karnal, 2 in Ambala and 1 in Palwal.
The total number of farm fires in the state has reached 2,693.
Officials in the state agriculture department believe that the state will easily achieve its target of 50% decline in the farm fires than the last year.
“As per the figures, the state reported 4,753 cases of farm fires from September 15 to November 9, last year. This year, the state has reported only 2,693 cases till date, which is 44% less than the last year,” said a senior officer from the state agriculture department.
“The state reported only 69 incidents on Wednesday, while 217 cases were reported on the same day last year,” he added.
